Jodie has an invisible friend unlike any other. They have a strange symbiotic relationship. But their abilities make growing up a very complicated experience for Jodie, one made only more complicated when she joins the CIA.

Recommended Age

Minimum Age

Available On...

12

10

PS3

Overall Fun

Length

Frustration

Violence

Sexuality

Substances

Gambling

3

5

4

4

3

3

0

Mods

Religion

Anti-Law

Community

Sports

Magic

Miscellaneous

1

2

3

0

4

10

3

1. Gameplay

Overall Fun - 3

Beyond: Two Souls is not Heavy Rain, not even close. It includes some of the elements from Heavy Rain but waters them down in a way that seriously undermines the value of interactive drama. Heavy Rain is a game that gave the player choice and made the player feel like he had control over the outcome of the story. It was about making significant, difficult choices and living with the consequences of those choices. Beyond is about a girl and her ghost sibling who are stumbling through life barely using the gifts they were given to survive.

It's like James Bond, except she's the spy and he's the arm candy.

There are three things specifically that killed this game for me. First, it leaves far too many questions unanswered. For example, why are all of the monsters / ghosts / whatever attracted to Jodie (Ellen Paige)? Why can they interact with her but not anyone else? Why is Aiden (ghost sibling) attached to her so closely that it hurts her when he gets too far? Why can’t she control herself when Aiden’s doing his thing except for all of the times when she’s in control of herself when Aiden’s doing his thing?

The game doesn’t give you any significant choices. Jodie can’t die, she’s the only main character, so you know that if you fail too much you’ll just pick up at a checkpoint. You can’t choose to approach any situation in a significantly different way, the game will just force you along the path that you need to take in order to continue. In fact, until the very end of the game, the player’s actions don’t seem to have any impact on the story at all.

This sums up the choices the game gives in most situations.

The last killer for me was the completely illogical stealth combat sequences. In fact, the entire CIA sub-plot could have been removed without losing anything significant to the story. But, most specifically, Aiden has the ability to possess some people and outright kill others, but the game doesn’t explain why he can affect certain people and not others. Why can’t I go through the game just choking everyone out? It makes it really obvious that the game is holding the player’s hand when the player can only kill / possess certain people and not others.

I want the freedom (or the illusion of freedom) that Heavy Rain gave, not this. This isn’t a good story, it wouldn’t even make a convincing TV show or movie. This was a ten hour snooze that I had to force myself to finish.

Length - 5

This game lasted around 10 hours and felt brutally long. I was not enjoying the experience, so many of the extra chapters in the middle felt like a complete grind. I wanted to give the game a chance (I loved Heavy Rain) but could never find a point where I really felt like I was enjoying myself. There will be people who love it, but I’m not one of them and therefore find no replay value in it.

Frustration Factor - 4

This game is designed to usually roll with the punches and make it seem like the player’s mistakes are part of the overall experience. This can be a blessing and a curse, because there might be things that I missed because I wasn’t in the right area or didn’t say the right thing or failed a specific quicktime event. This isn’t likely (the story was pretty linear), but it still nagged at me sometimes.

That being said, all of the mechanics outside of the quicktime events and the conversations felt seriously underdeveloped. The shooting and stealth mechanics felt tacked-on and completely out of place. This isn’t a game designed to be a shooter, it’s designed to tell a story and included some shooting mechanics. Therefore, many of the stealthy sequences felt forced and, when I failed, seemed entirely unfair.

2. Parental Notices

Violence - 4

Violence is not a major issue in this game. While the player will be able to kill enemies in certain specific chapters, most potentially violent scenarios are spent running from danger rather than actively engaging in it. When it does happen, blood is almost never present.

Maybe she's just helping him get the stick out of his nose.

Hand to hand and melee combat happen occasionally in the game. These scenes involve the player performing button and controller-based quicktime events in order to block attacks and hit enemies.

Ness would be proud.

The player can, on very rare occasions, use firearms to take down enemies. Usually these times involve having Aiden mind-control an enemy, who then shoots his allies.

There should be more blood. There should be SOME blood.

Most of these incidents result in no blood at all, but there were one or two rare occasions when hits from firearms would result in blood.

Who is the good guy here?

But the most common way of killing enemies was by having Aiden kill them directly. The game never seems to specify exactly how he kills them, but judging by their actions Aiden strangles them.

It seems a bit messed up to choke out someone as a ghost.

Sexuality - 3

While there is no nudity in this game, the story is a very personal and detailed look at Jodie’s life, from early childhood up until early adulthood. Consequently, the game is unafraid to present Jodie in random, everyday scenarios. The player will see her in her underwear on numerous occasions.

Oh. Hi.

One of the most controversial elements to this game were the shower scenes. Jodie, who was modeled after and voiced by Ellen Paige, gets naked for these scenes. The camera angles all prevent the player from seeing any serious nudity (see the “Mods” section for a slight caveat to this). However, it’s pretty obvious that Jodie is naked during these scenes (which would make sense for one taking a shower).

Unless you're a never-nude.

In one scene a bar patron attempts to rape Jodie. Aiden prevents this from happening.

Discuss? What's there to discuss?

Jodie eventually develops a romance with Ryan. In one scene they try to have sex but Jodie’s experiences and her connection with Aiden prevent this from happening.

It's probably a bad sign if she ends up crying.

Substances - 3

There is one chapter where Jodie goes to a party with some other teenagers. One of the teens breaks out cans of beer and some marijuana. The player can (and is encouraged through subtle “peer pressure”) to drink and smoke. There is no obvious impact, positive or negative, from trying these substances.

Blaaaaaaaazing...

Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3. Other Factors

Mods - 1

Shortly after this game was released, some images were leaked showing the full nudity in the shower scenes. These images cannot be seen in game and were almost certainly released by a member of the development’s QA team, since they have access to special tools. The player cannot mod the game in order to see the nudity.

Religion - 2

For a game that focuses on life, death, the afterlife, and that grey period in between, religion stays mostly absent throughout the game. Jodie stays with a Navajo family who are being haunted by a murderous god creature. While investigating how to help out the family, she discovers an ancient ritual that could get rid of it forever. She ends up performing the ritual.

Great, more ghosts.

The player is given a choice at the end of the game to either enter what is essentially Heaven or remain on Earth.

Anti-Law - 3

There are a number of chapters where Jodie is running from local law enforcement. This usually turns out poorly for the cops.

They're going to need more backup.

The player will have to actively fight against the cops in one scene. While normally the player is simply running away, in this scene the player uses Aiden to destroy vehicles, kill cops, and take over others. Only one police officer is left alive.

Online Community - 0

There are no multiplayer modes for this game.

Extreme Sports - 4

There are a few times when dangerous athletic activities come into play. The most obvious is when Jodie fights with police officers on top of a moving train.

I don't think this is physically possible.

After which she jumps off in order to escape while the train is still moving at full speed.

I KNOW this isn't possible.

In a later sequence, she uses a combination of Aiden’s abilities and a stolen police motorcycle to blow through a police barricade.

I tried to warn them about the whole backup thing.

Magic - 10

Aiden’s supernatural abilities are never explained with science in this game. They are studied by scientists in laboratory situations, but they are far from technological, biological, or chemical in nature.

It's kind of cheating if you can see the cards like this.

These powers are use constantly in the game. Jodie and Aiden’s symbiotic relationship is a constant plot element throughout the entire story. Aiden’s telekinetic and mind control abilities are used or discussed every few minutes.

Blue are normal, orange can be mind controlled, red can be killed. Colors are so helpful sometimes.

Magic rituals are also brought into one chapter. This is the Navajo ritual discussed in the “Religion” section above.

Aiden doesn’t seem to be the only ghost-like entity in the world. In a few early chapters, Jodie is attacked by other ghosts or demons that can do serious physical harm to her.

That's not good.

The ghost or ghosts can kill other people as well, but it doesn’t seem to follow the same rules as Aiden.

Miscellaneous - 3

TortureIn one of the chapters, Ryan, one of the male characters, is captured by the Chinese military and tortured for information about his mission. The torture scenes get somewhat intense, but it isn’t overly violent.

You don't have to talk.

RapeIn one scene, Jodie, in the height of her rebellious teenager phase, goes to a bar to defy Nathan’s orders. One of the bar patrons attempts to rape her on a bar table. Aiden steps in to make sure this doesn’t happen.

ProstitutionWhen Jodie is homeless, the player can consider engaging in prostitution in order to get money for food. The game prevents the player from actually going through with it though.

I would have been really surprised if the game let me go through with this.

SuicideOccasionally, after Aiden has mind-controlled a victim and that victim has performed the necessary actions, Aiden will force the victim to turn his gun on himself. The whole action is over relatively quickly but it does happen a few times in different chapters.

Judging by that angle, he wouldn't die from this shot. Not at first.

The player can also attempt to take Jodie’s life. While I never attempted these, I believe that Aiden prevents Jodie from actually going through with it.